Thursday, March 27, 2014

Werner was born and raised in Switzerland and lucky me, I had the privilege of living there for several years when we were first married. I paid attention and soaked up all of the wonderful food tips I could gather, in this country that has such amazing food and wine. Werner's favorite birthday cake..( heck, I could make it any day of the week and he would have been happy) was the Argauer Ruebli Torte.. Argau being a canton of Switzerland and Ruebli being carrot. So, it is the Swiss version of carrot cake and it does not taste anything like the carrot cake I grew up with, though that one is great too!No cinnamon and spices here. This has a lighter feel to it, less sugar, lots of ground almonds and lemon.
Re-purposing recipes to fit into breakfast is one of the things I love to do most, and this is a perfect recipe for that. That is how these waffles were born and guests have been raving ever since. Crispy on the outside (thanks to the cornstarch) moist on the inside.. yeah carrots, filled with great flavor and topped with the tangy touch of a mascarpone cream. So you can't get mascarpone, don't fret. You can use softened cream cheese thinned with a bit of cream instead or a greek yogurt .. jut add a bit more powdered sugar.
Then top it off with fresh pineapple lightly brushed with butter and roasted. Ohh my. swoon.

You can mix the mascarpone creme the day before if you are short on time. Use a small dipper to scoop it onto the hot waffle before topping with the pineapple. And there you have it. Breakfast fit for a king.*note: This recipe made it to the bedandbreakfast.com "sweet" 16 finals. Voting happens on Sat March 29, 2014 Can you tell I am excited? Check out the 8Broads facebook page for the link.

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the waffle iron. In a bowl, combine the flour,almond meal, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, 2 Tbsp sugar and salt. Stir with a wire whisk to combine and make sure that there are no lumps.

Separate the egg and place the egg white in a medium bowl whip until stiff. In another bowl combine the grated carrots, buttermilk, melted butter, egg yolk, and vanilla. Add to the dry ingredients and when all is mixed gently fold in the beaten egg whites. Set aside.

In a small bowl combine the mascarpone, 1 Tbsp sugar and lemon juice. Set aside. Slice a 2 inch slice from a fresh pineapple, cut in half and remove the peel and core. Slice each half into 4 thin slices. Arrange the slices in a glass baking dish and brush with melted butter. Place under the broiler for 5-10 min watching carefully, till they start to brown at the edges. Remove from the oven and set aside.

Brush the hot waffle iron with oil. With a dipper measure enough of the carrot batter onto the bottom half, not filling to the sides (about 1/2-2/3 cup) so that it bakes without baking over. Carefully remove from the iron when the light turns off and it is baked. (5-8 min) It will be a deep golden brown.

Place on a plate, Add 2-3 Tbsp of the mascarpone in the middle and arrange the a slice of the roasted pineapple on top. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and a bit of finely grated carrot. Serve with syrup if desired.